a coffee, see Nicholas Cage and team steal fast cars, or have your
backpack stolen with almost everything in it!
Both passports, flight details, Judy's purse with credit cards and ID
cards, camera with all our holiday snaps, work blackberry and
guidebook. Just lucky Judy sent afew text messages otherwise even her
mobile would have gone too!
We were waiting for some food and sat out on the terrace to watch some
cute dogs, and put the bag on the chair next to me, seeing as there
was no one around. A elderly woman then starts talking to us in
Spanish laughing as the smaller dog tries to hump the bigger one. Then
after a minute she says goodbye, and when I looked for the guidebook,
my backpack had gone! I tried running up the street to see if anyone
had nabbed my bag so I can repay the kindness with my fists, but alas
no sign at all. Incredible! I was absolutely livid while Judy was more
calmer and pragmatic, calling to cancel her credit cards asap.
Thankfully we still had my wallet with cash, cards, and ID, so we
could still get money to survive.
I went back into to cafe to ask for a directory, so I can reach the
British and Chinese Consulates, and get new passports to leave.
Thankfully not all Catalans are bad, and one girl helped call their
directory services for the UK Consulate number and address, while a
gentleman walked us to the nearest police station, so we could file a
report.
Most annoying was that we were supposed to leave on 27th March, and
the theft took place on 26th evening!
After the initial frustration, and getting copies of the report for
the Consulates, we got more cash out from the ATM and called the
landlord for the apartment to let us in (key was also in the bag). We
then made plans for the next few days and emailed the HK immigration
department for advise.
They called us in the morning with clear instructions and said the
whole team is aware of Judy's situation and is available 24hrs, very
efficient.
Since the Chinese Consulate is only open to the public for 3days a
week, we went to the UK one first. They could get me out very quickly,
but only to UK. From there I would have to reapply for replacement
passport. So, the priority now is to get Judy's temporary pass sorted
so she can fly directly to HK first.
With not much else to do, we checked into another hotel and went to
the supermarket El Corte Ingles for tomorrows breakfast.
So this morning 28th, we arrived 30mins ahead of the Chinese Consulate
opening hours and already saw 20 people queuing. Once in, the typical
lack of queuing etiquette was apparent, with lots of people trying to
jump the queue, thrusting papers into the counter. Really they were
quite inefficent, as Judy also had to bump towards the counter three
times to fill in details that they could have told us in the first
place. However, they did manage to produce a FULL China passport for
Judy within one hour! Amazing!
So now we'll look for flights out then I can get the UK Consulate to
prepare my emrgency pass out, looks like we may be able to leave ok
Monday afternoon. Updates as they come!
Sent from my iPhone
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